Cecil Portesque

Cecil Portesque (AKA The NPR Duke Of Dead Air and The King of Dead Air) is the fictional host of the They Might Be Giants Podcast. Members of TMBW have generally agreed that John Linnell provided the voice for Cecil in Podcast 1A, and that John Flansburgh has been doing the voice since, though this has of course not officially been confirmed.

"Born in Raleigh, NC, and raised in Columbia County, NY, Cecil Portesque has They Might Be Giants in his blood...even though he admits he loves Weezer too. Like his arch-nemesis Bill O'Reilly, Cecil attended college but never matriculated. Even 'hippie' college Bard was too many rules for his free spirit to bear. Cecil ALWAYS listened to late night radio-starting with WABC's 'Good Guys' late at night-but the idea of being on the radio didn't cross his mind until he worked as an intern at a public radio station in the mid-80s during a fund drive. As his political awareness rose and his respect for the politically correct broadcasters fell, he figured he could do it, too! When someone at WBAI, New York, couldn't make the overnight slot, Cecil was ready to fill in. And so the career of the 'Duke of Dead Air' began!

"Cecil spent most of the '80s and '90s lost in what he describes as the 'Bermuda triangle' of New York public radio. Stints behind the microphone at WBAI, WFMU and WFUV finally led to paying work as a consultant for Sirius, where he programs a variety of the alternative-music channels. Encouraged by longtime engineer and TMBG archivist Julian Dufy to return to the other side of the glass, Cecil brings back some of his late-night magic to They Might Be Giants podcast. Cecil says of his new gig: 'TMBG's music is original and I love their energy. Working on these podcasts is a dream for me.'"

Cecil seems to sometimes have a speech impediment when it comes to saying They Might Be Giants song titles and a few other random things. Other times he can't keep his facts straight, though it is unknown whether these instances are intentional or not.

"...They Might Be Giants Podcast is a copywritten feature of They Might Be Giants..." - Copywritten is the incorrect term, the proper word is "copyrighted", and the Idlewild workers who run TMBG's Myspace are apparently well aware of this and have tried informing the band.

"...You just heard 'La Dolce Malcolm' ... 'Too + 3 Is One'..." - The title we've known the song as is La Dolce, but "La Dolce Malcolm" might've been the working title. The other song's correct title is Too + 3 R One.

"That was the Muckafurgason with 'You're A Liar', produced by John Flansburgh off their Muckafurgason album." - The song is 'Liar' by Muckafurgason (no article), found on their release "The Pink Album".